Amit Shukla, founder and former CTO of KOOVS, is the founder and CEO of Pursuite.com, a B2B hospitality procurement e-Marketplace

ETBrandEquity

September 09, 2017, 08:00 IST

India’s first B2Be-Commerce platform for the hospitality industry is being launched today. The e-marketplace aims at transforming the B2B hospitality procurement space for buyers as well as suppliers across the country by not only improving their bottom lines, but also by managing sales and procurement processes in a simpler and transparent way. The platform promises to provide the widest catalogue of choicest items with curated shopping experience and secure collaborative space for suppliers & buyers. Pursuite.com, at present, catalogues products majorly into Operational Supplies & Equipment (OS&E) category and will be foraying into Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment (FF&E) segment soon.

Amit Shukla, founder and former CTO of KOOVS, is the founder and CEO of this B2B hospitality procurement e-Marketplace. He has more than a decade of experience in business management, product development and cross-platform technologies. Amit has been a key mentor of several online startups, helping them define and scale product, harvest technologies and streamline operations.

The platform has been functional in its beta form since past few months and has received a very positive response from the Industry. Prominent hospitality players like The Bristol Gurgaon, Treebo, Tree of Life Varanasi, Country Inns & Suites Mysore, Lemon Tree Greater Noida, Novotel Goa, O Freak Pune and HUF Sarovar Mumbai are amongst a few early adopters. Talks are on with hotel aggregators for providing curated procurement portal to cater to their specific needs.

Speaking at the launch, Amit said, “We are thrilled to announce the launch of Pursuite. This B2B e-Marketplace will bring the suppliers and buyers in the hospitality industry closer to each other in an unprecedented manner. However, the real strength of this platform is the way it handles and streamlines the industry supply chain. Apart from improving operating income by improving profits and reducing costs, some of the main goals that we are trying to achieve through this platform are solving spend management for buyers, improving demand prediction for suppliers and simplifying the process of product discovery and supply chain management.” Talking about the Pursuite team, Amit said, “We have an extremely talented and hard-working team working assiduously to achieve the smoothness we want to bring in the Hospitality procurements.”

The company’s Brand Relationship is being headed by Avinash Garg – a hospitality management veteran who brings with him over 35 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry. Prior to joining Pursuite, Avinash has provided procurement consultancy to hospitality biggies like Accor Hotels, Hilton and Six Senses.

Amit is very positive about the future of hospitality industry and shift to e-procurement. He sees a vast potential in this market segment which, according to KPMG report, is expected to grow at 16.1% CAGR to reach Rs 2,796.9 thousand crore in 2022. The report also states that 85% SMEs in India who have experimented with online selling have seen growth in their sales. Additionally, the companies that have adopted the e-commerce route saw a 51% increase in their revenues and a 49% increase in profits.